FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant

This section of the user guide is focused on using the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant. To help you navigate the article, we have broken it down into the following sections:

• What is the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?
• Who has access to the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?
• How do I use the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?

What is the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?

At Ocelot, we use AI to enhance the higher education experience, and our new FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant embodies this mission. A digital resource assistant for staff, this new AI-powered solution from Ocelot is your team's go-to resource for quick, precise, and dependable answers to FAFSA Simplification questions. Questions outside of the scope of FAFSA Simplification will not be recognized by the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant. 

Specifically designed for Financial Aid and Enrollment teams, this digital assistant offers a user-friendly and interactive space to help you and your team learn all about FAFSA Simplification. Utilize it as a knowledge base or use it as a training tool to help your team quickly grasp the new financial aid changes, and confidently respond to student and parent inquiries knowing you are compliant with state and federal policies and regulations.

Through AI-driven, on-demand access to FAFSA Simplification information, we seek to lighten the load on higher education staff and empower schools like yours to enhance communication with students and parents.    

Who has access to the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?

The FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant page is available to individuals with the following permissions: 

For more information on user permissions, review the User Roles & Permissions article. 

Once the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant has been turned on, Permissions Managers can enable access for users who already have access to the virtual assistant. For more information, review the Adjusting User Permission Settings article.

How do I use the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant?

1. Within the admin portal, select FAFSA Simplification.
   
   
2. In the Ask a question box, ask a question related to FAFSA Simplification and Enter.
   
   
3. If you found the response to be useful, select the thumbs up icon.
   If the response did not meet your expectations, please select the thumbs down icon and leave a comment explaining why. Our team at Ocelot will be closely monitoring the feedback to ensure that we provide accurate responses.
   
   • New generative AI technology is being leveraged to automatically generate responses to questions based on data in the web knowledge source. As users ask questions, if the question does not exist in the knowledgebase already, generative AI generates a response based on the web knowledge source, and the question and response are added to the knowledge base.
   • Content is continuously updated via the web knowledge source runs so if the source information changes, then any knowledge base questions created from the old information are deleted and will be recreated using the new content when any FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant user asks the question again.
   • A user’s chat with the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant is continuously retained in order to allow you to search for previous content. However, information from previous conversations may no longer be accurate if the source information has changed. An informational banner displays concerning accuracy.
   • Messages can be searched for historical reference, however, content may no longer be accurate. It is recommended to re-ask the question to ensure the most accurate current response.
     

NOTE:  Users do not have the ability to directly add content to the FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant.  If a question does not already exist in the knowledge base, generative AI will prepare a response, if possible.  Generative AI responses are reviewed by Ocelot staff to ensure accuracy.  FAFSA Simplification Digital Assistant responses cannot be modified by users.